


It's the end of my world as I know it

by SalixEnder03



Series: The Adventures of Avatar Syn [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar State, Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:21:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29136204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SalixEnder03/pseuds/SalixEnder03
Summary: Syn is headed to the Western Air Temple to secretly begin her airbending training when a storm hits.
Series: The Adventures of Avatar Syn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138220





	It's the end of my world as I know it

Josa knew.

He hadn't said anything to even hint that he might have caught on when he'd agreed to fly her to the Western Air Temple to 'study Air Nomad culture' earlier in the week, and he hadn't said anything when they'd boarded his private jet and it had finally been just them two. He hadn't even said anything when they’d entered the storm and they’d run out of small talk.

But Syn _knew_ that he knew. She knew that for a _fact_ because the glances he kept sending her were the same ones he'd sent her when she lied about practicing her bending katas and they were the same looks she got when Firelord Saika's Wall of Fire had suddenly exploded in fireworks at the start of a family meeting when she was twelve and Ruki was seven and they had been unable to hide their giggles.

Maybe it was because the Firelord was his sister, or maybe it was just Josa- whatever it was, it was a fact of life that Uncle Josa _knew_ things.

Syn shuffled her feet awkwardly. She caught Josa’s amused smirk as she tried to think of something, of _anything_ to say, and when she opened her mouth again to speak, all that came out was “I-” before she sighed and resigned to her awkward cowardice.

“What’s the word, kid?” He prompted her. “Ya clearly wanna say _somethin’.”_

Syn didn’t reply. She had no idea how to phrase this question, and the stakes that went with it were _enormous;_ if she was wrong in assuming he already knew, she would be handing him very important information and it would be his _responsibility_ as the Firelord’s younger brother to tell the Firelord, and Syn’s life would begin to collapse from there as everything she knew, everything she loved was _taken_ from her, all in the name of _‘responsibility’._

No. _No._ Uncle Josa wasn’t like that. Uncle Josa firebent like an airbender and flew around the world in a private jet instead of sitting in a boring room doing boring paperwork like Saika always wanted him to do. Uncle Josa was a cool uncle, and even if he didn’t already know (which she doubted), he wouldn’t tell anyone if she asked him not to. Uncle Josa understood discretion.

(Seriously though, for an 80 year old man, some of the things he did were _impressive.)_

“...Uncle Josa?” Syn began timidly. “Do you ever wonder who the new Avatar might be?”

Josa’s eyes (the same golden hue as hers) flashed for just a second before he chuckled, “Yeah, sometimes. Kid must be, what, about your age by now? Probably already a firebending master. But outside o’ that? It don’t matter too much. I do wonder if the kid knows they’re the Avatar or not, and it’d be kinda nice to know if they’ve wised up enough to realize they don’t need all o’ this decorum and crap to become the Avatar. Heck, if I had the kid sittin’ in front o’ me right now, I’d tell ‘em to go off and enjoy the world. Make the most o’ this life, because spirits know they’re gonna have to help the next life that comes along. Don’t let a buncha prissy-pantsed adults try to tell ‘em they need to be all stiff and serious to do their job. The spirits’ll lead ‘em to the masters that’re right for ‘em when the time is right. I’d remind ‘em that they’re not just the Avatar, they’re still a kid.”

Josa made direct eye contact with Syn for almost the entire time he spoke, and at the end, he gave her a little wink. Syn beamed back at him, feeling suitably reassured. “Thanks Uncle Josa. I guess I’d never thought of it that way.”

“What’re ya thankin’ _me_ for? Wasn’t like I was talkin’ about _you_ or nothin’.” But his blatant smirk betrayed his teasing for what it was. “If I kick the bucket and you meet the kid, tell ‘em that for me, will ya?”

“Of… course I will,” Syn blinked. “But… what if you already _knew_ the Avatar?”

“Same story, kid,” Josa turned in his pilot seat to meet her eyes, his expression suddenly dead serious. “Heck, if I’d found out _Ikeze_ was the Avatar, I wouldn’t have told her ma, responsibility to the nation be damned. If I wouldn’t tell the Firelord that the _Crown_ _Princess_ was the Avatar, of course I wouldn’t tattle on anyone else. Unless they were absolutely sure they wanted me to.”

After his last words he gave her another knowing look, and Syn was struck with the realization that he was waiting for her to tell him herself. She shifted in her seat, fiddling indecisively with her hands, before she drew in a breath and straightened up in her seat. She was going to tell him.

“Uncle Josa-” Syn was cut off abruptly as thunder cracked and rattled her eardrums. Josa moved to placate her, and the entire jet lurched, throwing both of them forward; they were stopped abruptly by their seatbelts.

“Storm’s worse than I thought,” Josa observed. “What were ya sayin’?”

“I-”

Syn was interrupted again as Josa held up a hand, eyes suddenly bright and alert.

“Do you smell something burning?”

Syn inhaled, and her heart froze; when she turned her head to look into the cabin portion of the jet, she was met with a haze of thick, dark gray smoke.

“Syn.”

A pair of weathered hands, hands that’d once known a great strength, grabbed her shoulders as she moved to stop the fire in the cabin before it spread to the rest of the plane. She struggled to get out of his grasp, turning desperately between him and the burning cabin, and he repeated, more firmly, _“Syn.”_

_“What are you doing?!”_ She exclaimed. “You have to let me stop the fire, the plane’s going to burn and we’re going to _die_ if we don’t do something!”

“The plane is goin’ down. Nothin’ either of us does is gonna stop that, kid.” Josa told her with utmost certainty, and she saw it in his eyes; he had accepted that they were going to-

_No._

“But you don’t have to go down with it,” Josa’s eyes glared with a new intensity as he took his hands from her shoulders and gently, urgently held her hands. “You can still save yourself, I’m old. It’s my time now. But you-”

“But you don’t understand!” Syn yelled, desperate to tell him now. “I can stop it! I’m the-”

“Then use that Avatar State of yours to _get yourself to safety._ Kid, I know, and you _know_ that.”

“I can’t leave you behind!”

“What are ya, _deaf?_ I already told ya, _I’m 80 years old, dammit._ I’m gonna kick the bucket sooner or later, and I’d like to do it doin’ somethin’ worthwhile: keepin’ this plane in the sky just long enough for ya to get your spirit voodoo workin’.”

“But-” Josa cut her off again, looking away to avoid her tear-filled eyes.

“You’re real important to me, and you’re real important to the world. Don’t give your family another reason to weep.” He sighed. “Don’t let that brother of yours lose his big sister.”

“Uncle Josa…” Syn trailed off, voice cracking.

It was obvious that she didn’t know how to argue with him. As the plane shook violently, he turned his eyes back to the turbulent seas and thundering rain in front of them. “I know ya don’t know how to use it yet. I know ya haven’t got any trainin’ in how to be the Avatar, and I know ya think ya can’t do it. But I know ya, and I know you’re a talented young woman who can figure it out until you find someone who does know how to do this whole thing. Kid, you’re one of my favorite people in this world. So when ya get somewhere safe? Promise me you’ll be the best Avatar you can be. Don’t let those shmucks like my sister or your grandma tell ya gotta be like the Avatars before ya- be your own Avatar. Promise me you’ll listen to what I said earlier?”

“I… I promise,” Syn said shakily.

“Good.” Josa’s eyes steeled. “Kid, I love ya. Watch out for lightnin’.”

“Wha-” Syn interrupted herself this time with a shriek as Josa pulled a lever and she was ejected into the storm.

“Be safe, kid.” Josa smiled fondly. “I know ya can do it.”

Syn’s screams were soundless in the roaring of the rain hitting the seas and the crackling of thunder that never seemed to end. She felt herself plummet, down down down, thinking with a certainty that this was it she was going to die _righthererightnow_ **_today-_ **

But she never hit the waves. Suddenly she felt a surge of power through her veins- the waves, before, had looked so tumultuous, so out of control, but she knew with a burning certainty that she could lift her hand and even the wind and waves would obey her now. She gathered the wind, gathered the waves around her as ten thousand voices hummed in unison, **_“STAYALIVESTAYALIVESTAYALIVE”_ **

_Josa-!_ She protested, but the voices drowned her out, and it was out of her control as every single part of her being screamed 

**_“S T A Y A L I V E”_ **

Her body was hurting, simultaneously burning her up with more energy than she could even imagine and aching as her own energy depleted, and moments before she slipped into unconsciousness, she felt the thousands of spirits within her take control and whisper,

_“Shhhhhhhh.”_

_“It’s okay, child.”_

_“Sleeeeeeeeep.”_

And then she knew nothing as her eyes rolled back in her head and she slept.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of a premise my friend and I started. It began as something tiny, then sprouted into this enormous feat of worldbuilding that even a few of our other friends enjoy to hear about. It's Avatar, but this chapter takes place in the fall of 261 A.G. Read more in the timeline and explanation that immediately follows this work in the series (which I'll be calling "The Adventures of Avatar Syn").
> 
> Syn discovered that she could airbend in the middle of a probending match when she accidentally dissipated a fireblast with air rather than fire. After the match, she asked her dad (Prince Zokai) and her great aunt (Firelord Saika) if she could travel to the Western Air Temple to 'study Air Nomad culture', and Josa volunteered immediately to fly her himself. You see, Josa's had his suspicions about Syn being the Avatar for years now, and this sudden trip is a sign to him that she's finally realized it for herself.
> 
> This series will, in all likelihood, end up being very, very long. I have a lot of time to cover, and a lot happens in that amount of time.
> 
> In the meantime, I'll try and update this whenever I can. I hope you enjoyed this and continue to follow this series!
> 
> SalixEnder03


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